Citing Articles Retrieved with
Lexis-Nexis Universe

Lexis�-Nexis� is an on-line database. It stores and makes available literally billions of records, from newspaper and magazine articles to legal and medical documents, data countries and businesses, etc. All of these topics are listed on the Lexis-Nexis Universe start page, available through the CSBSJU library resources links.

Skip directly to: sample search result citation/reference elements sample references

For research in Symposium, you will most likely search for information using the "General News Topics" or perhaps one of the General Health or legal material search forms. You should note which search form you use each session, as this is necessary to help others access the article.

Lexis-Nexis Search Form Options:

Sample Lexis-Nexis Citation and Article
with MLA Works Cited & APA References Formats

Here is a sample citation produced by Lexis-Nexis, using the search form "General News Topics" and the search term "homelessness":

63. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 22, 1998 Sunday, Final, Pg. 1, 1587 words, Keeping a: foot in the door Catching families before they fall into homelessness, MARGO HUSTON

Note that the citation information is not at all given in the order you will need to use it in a proper reference. It is also unclear whether this article was contained totally on page 1 of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, or whether it was continued on subsequent pages, as newspaper articles often are. The text of the article as retrieved follows below.

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Document 63 of 456.

February 22, 1998 Sunday Final
SECTION: News Pg. 1

LENGTH: 1587 words

HEADLINE: Keeping a foot in the door
Catching families before they fall into homelessness

BYLINE: MARGO HUSTON

SOURCE: Journal Sentinel staff

BODY:
The children get to you every time.

Tiny Briana, 4, climbs into the van and settles back on the seat, her legs straight out, shoes untied, no socks, face sad as a sunless day. She spies a stranger's smile and her face lights up like the sun.

In the seat behind Briana, her mother, Crystal Bridges, 20, is crying, wiping her tears with her hands. She described how she came up from Illinois because her sister wanted to help her find God and turn around her life. But her sister no longer will help, so Crystal called A-Call, the new hot line to prevent people from falling into homelessness. A-Call dispatched A-Street, the outreach workers in the van.

A-Call and A-Street are key parts of a new $1.6 million safety net here meant to catch families before they are forced into homeless shelters. It is the only such program nationwide, intended to demonstrate that tracking families on a database and diverting them from shelters can stabilize more of them in permanent housing.

On any given night, advocates estimate, 1,600 people are homeless; and each month, hundreds of people are turned away from the shelters because they are filled. Shelters here have beds for 850 people, but on most winter nights, all beds are filled and single women without children stay in overflow shelters in churches.

This massive reform of Milwaukee's network of loosely affiliated non-profit homeless shelters has been four years in the planning, and will take four more years to be fully operational. It is being paid for by federal money coming to the county, with much of it going to private contract agencies....

List of Citation Elements

Author of article (unless unsigned).
Title of article.
Title and publication data of periodical (newspaper) source. If the edition of a newspaper is specified, as in the above example, name the edition after the date but before the page reference: 22 Feb. 1998, Sunday final ed.: News 1. Note that the section name has been added to the page number, as it is given in the article text. If the article is long, some professors may prefer that you number the paragraphs in it, and use these instead of page numbers for in-text citations. Please check with your instructor. If paragraph numbers are to be used, include the total number after the starting page, Note also that in APA style the date comes earlier, after the author's name, and the edition follows the newspaper name and format designation.
Full Database Name, specifying Search Form: Lexis-Nexis Universe: General News Topics.
Online. (This element occurs after the periodical title and in brackets in APA style; see below).
Date accessed: 30 Mar. 1998. (APA: [1988, Mar. 30]).

Sample Works Cited (MLA) and References (APA) Entries

MLA Works Cited

Huston, Margo. "Keeping a Foot in the Door: Catching Families before
 
     They Fall into Homelessness." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

     22 Feb. 1998, Sunday final ed.: News 1. Lexis-Nexis Universe:

     General News Topics. Online. 30 Mar. 1998.

MLA Works Cited form with paragraphs numbered for citing

Huston, Margo. "Keeping a Foot in the Door: Catching Families before
 
     They Fall into Homelessness." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

     22 Feb. 1998, Sunday final ed.: News 1 (37 par.). Lexis-Nexis

     Universe: General News Topics. Online. 30 Mar. 1998.

APA References

Huston, M. (1998, Feb. 22). Keeping a foot in the door: Catching

     families before they fall into homelessness. Milwaukee Journal

     Sentinel [Online], Sunday final ed., News 1. Lexis-Nexis Universe:

     General News Topics [1998, Mar. 30].

APA References with paragraphs numbered for citing

Huston, M. (1998, Feb. 22). Keeping a foot in the door: Catching

     families before they fall into homelessness. Milwaukee Journal

     Sentinel [Online], Sunday final ed., News 1, 37 paragraphs.

     Lexis-Nexis Universe: General News Topics [1998, Mar. 30].

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Citing Electronic Resources @ CSBSJU Libraries

Comments to Dennis Beach, OSB [dbeach@csbsju.edu].

URL: http://employees.csbsju.edu/dbeach/symposium/lexis-nexis.html
Revised: 01/09/2005.